observations from Jim and Melanie

Morning Walk | Yellow Wildflowers

It was a beautiful morning for a walk with temperature in the low 60s and clear sky. The waning moon was visible above the western horizon. It was heading east for the grand solar eclipse on 21 August.

We set out from this location in Solon, Iowa. We walked about two miles west and then headed back. Lake Macbride trail heads west from the parking lot. It is mostly flat as it passes several wooded areas and native prairie restorations. Numerous wildflowers were showy in the prairies. Especially colorful were the yellow ones.

We captured photos of as many different ones as we could find. There might be some duplicates. We made no attempt to ID them. Fellow blogger Eliza Waters offered some IDs which are in the photo descriptions. See her comment below. All photos can be viewed larger for details.

1 – Ratibida pinnata

2 – Helianthus

3 – Rudbedkia

4 – Helianthus

5 – Helianthus

6 – Helianthus

7 – Helianthus

8 – Helianthus

9 – Helianthus

10 – Rudbeckia

11 – Helianthus

12 – Helianthus

Several places along the trail gave views of an inlet to Lake Macbride. At one of them we saw a large flotilla of water lillies. Two snowy egrets flew by.

As we neared the end of our walk, we slowed to take a closer look at a plant. We almost stumbled on two snakes that had come out of a rock pile into the sun at the edge of the trail. They were long and fat, but moved quickly into the rocks before we could get a photo or even a good glimpse of their entire bodies. Melanie is pretty sure they were Fox Snakes.

There are always places to explore and enjoy being outside. We hope you can get outside, too.

9 thoughts on “Morning Walk | Yellow Wildflowers”

Sounds like a gorgeous day! Beautiful swallowtail photo. I love a good ID challenge: #1 Ratibida pinnata took me the longest. #3 & 10 are Rudbeckias and the rest look like a couple of different Helianthus.

I have such a hard time with the “DYCs” — the darned yellow composites. I can spot about three varieties of sunflower now, and a couple of coneflowers, but I’m still more often confused than not.

That aside, it’s still possible to enjoy these beauties even without a name to attach. I’ll be glad when the heat eases just a bit here, so being outdoors can be a little more enjoyable. I got up early today to try and beat the heat, but it’s 4:30 a.m. and 84F, with a heat index of 96. Ah, August.

I agree about the DYCs. They are pretty and decorate the landscape this time of year. I wish I had an app that would give an ID just by taking a photo. That would be handy. Hmmm…I should get someone to work on that for me.

It hasn’t been hot here lately. Our highs get to the low 80s if that. We’ve been treated very nicely by the Canadians.